Chew toys for dogs are made from many different materials. Some have no nutritional value and are intended to be chewed for a very long time before the chew toy is exhausted. Examples include chew toys made from hard nylon, hard rubber and treated bones. Other chew toys are intended to be chewed for a shorter period of time (for typical dogs); these are often made from animal parts and include rawhide chew toys, processed cattle hooves and processed pigs' ears.
During the processing of cattle hooves, the hooves are often trimmed for aesthetic and safety reasons. These left over trim pieces are not, however, suitable for use as dog chews. Therefore, the remaining pieces are often sold in bulk for further processing, such as to produce gelatin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,333, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference, recognized that the present uses for the pieces of hooves left over from processing cattle hooves to create dog chews are poor uses from an economical standpoint. That patent discloses an economically advantageous use of the trimmed pieces of cattle hooves by reducing the trimmed pieces to a granular hoof material for use as a flavor enhancer in pet food.